Biography
Robert W. Fieseler is a National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association “Journalist of the Year” and the acclaimed author of Tinderbox: The Untold Story of the Up Stairs Lounge Fire and the Rise of Gay Liberation—winner of the Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America and the Louisiana Literary Award from the Louisiana Library Association, shortlisted for the Saroyan International Prize for Writing from Stanford Libraries. Queer literary icon Andrew Holleran reviewed Tinderbox as "far more than just a history of gay rights" and Michael Cunningham praised it as "essential reading at any time." A Tulane Mellon Fellow, Fieseler is presently writing his second work of queer history, a finalist for the J. Anthony Lukas Work-in-Progress Award. He graduated co-valedictorian from the Columbia Journalism School and is a board member of the LGBT+ Archives Project of Louisiana.